David Peter Wright-Neville is a former Australian academic who specialised in

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. He was Deputy Director of the Global Terrorism Research Centre and an Associate Professor of Politics in the School of Political and Social Inquiry at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

until his resignation in 2009. His contributions to discussions on terrorism appear in Australian and overseas media In 2008, he was selected to participate in the

Australia 2020 Summit The Australia 2020 Summit was a convention, referred to in Australian media as a summit, which was held over 18-19 April 2008 at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, aiming to "help shape a long-term strategy for the nation's future". Announ ...

Government intelligence career

Prior to entering academia, Wright-Neville worked as one of Australia's most senior government intelligence analysts in the

Office of National Assessments The Office of National Assessments (ONA) was an Australian statutory intelligence agency established by the ''Office of National Assessments Act 1977'' as an independent statutory body directly accountable to the Prime Minister of Australia as ...

, Australia's peak intelligence agency. Until mid-2002, he was one of Australia's most senior terrorism analysts, primarily assessing and reporting on terrorist groups in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Academia

His comments on a number of controversies in Australian politics have also attracted attention. In 2003, he supported his former colleague

Andrew Wilkie Andrew Damien Wilkie (born 8 November 1961) is an Australian politician and independent federal member for Clark. Before entering politics Wilkie was an infantry officer in the Australian Army., Australian Parliament House Biographies; 19 Augu ...

, who resigned from the

in protest against Australia's involvement in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. Wright-Neville described Wilkie as "very competent, very capable and very trustworthy". In 2005, Wright-Neville publicly criticised the questioning of a Monash University politics student on the student's purchase of an academic text on terrorism.Federal police quiz Muslim over library books – War on Terror – Features
/ref> Wright-Neville alleged that the student had been unfairly targeted because of his Muslim background. Wright-Neville was also an outspoken critic of the Howard Government's treatment of Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate

David Hicks David Matthew Hicks (born 7 August 1975) is an Australian who attended al-Qaeda's Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan, and met with Osama bin Laden during 2001. He was then detained by the United States in Guantanamo Bay detention camp ...

. In an article in Melbourne newspaper, ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', he described the treatment of Hicks as "outrageous in a human rights sense, and counterproductive from the perspective of counter-terrorism." He also described Hicks as "a sacrifice to the Bush administration".

Selected publications

Some of Wright-Neville's major publications include: *David Wright-Neville, Sharon Pickering and Jude McCulloch 'Counter-Terrorism Policing in Diverse Communities' (Springer 2008) *David Wright-Neville ‘Terrorism’ in R. Devetak, A. Burke and J. George (eds.) An Introduction to International Relations: Australian Perspectives (Cambridge University Press 2007) *David Wright-Neville ‘Southeast Asian Security Challenges’ in R. Ayson and D. Ball (eds.) Strategy and Security in the Asia Pacific (Allen and Unwin 2006) *David Wright-Neville ‘Terrorism as the Politics of Dashed Expectations’ Dialogue: Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Vol.25 No.3. 2006 *David Wright-Neville ‘Dangerous Dynamics: Activists, Militants and terrorists in Southeast Asia’ Pacific Review Vol.17 No.1 2004 *David Wright-Neville, Pete Lentini & Marika Vicziany, ''Regional Security in the Asia Pacific: 9/11 and After'' (Edward Elgar, 2004). *David Wright-Neville, 'Globalization and Terrorism: The Southeast Asian Experience' in Chris Nyland and Gloria Davies (eds.) ''Globalization: The Asian Experience London'' (Edward Elgar, 2004). *David Wright-Neville, 'East Asia and the War on Terror: Why Human Rights Matter' in Paul Van Tongren (ed.) ''Searching for Peace in East Asia'' (Lynne Reiner Publishers, 2004).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright-Neville, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Academic staff of Monash University